Internet access has become ubiquitous. In addition to traditional dial-up and Local Area Network-based network access, wireless access technologies including IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g (WiFi), WiMax, Bluetooth™, and others are being widely deployed. Many public locations, such as airports, bookstores, coffee shops, hotels, and restaurants have free or fee-based access to wireless Internet service. Some locations, such as hotel rooms, also offer internet access via Ethernet ports. In addition, businesses offer visiting professionals access to Internet service while they are on the premises.
Such Internet access services typically are not secured at the datalink layer. It is often possible for network administrators, other users, or even criminals to capture and view network transmissions made on these networks. The “last mile”, or the few hops on the network that are closest to the end user, are often only lightly secured, if at all, and are particularly vulnerable to traffic snooping. Enhanced communication security would find utility.